In Silico analysis of PE_PGRS20 (Rv1068c) protein in Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv

The genetic makeup of Mycobacterium tuberculosis reveals the presence of an unknown repeat sequence of PE_PGRS family proteins that are responsible for antigenic variations and many unknown functions that includes necrosis of macrophage and apoptosis. The structure and function of these glycine-rich proteins can be predictable by homology modeling, the Ab-initio method, or by using different tools of bioinformatics. In this study, we selected, PE_PGRS20 (Rv1068c) an unknown PE_PGRS protein. We suggest that the PE_PGRS20 gene is linked with the others genes of the espACD operon which are the virulence factors in the M . tuberculosis H37Rv strain. The genes associated with this protein secretion system can perform the synthesis of a special type of fatty acid known as phthioceroldimycocerates (PDIM). Docking with different anti TB drugs shows binding with PE_PGRS20 protein which suggests that the target protein may involve in the drug resistance.